By Rachel Ding’ 26 and Anouk Shin ’26
Skipping classes is an issue all schools face in the academic year, and St. Mark’s is no exception. In the complex world of BlackBaud attendance summaries, excused and unexcused absences, tardies, and detentions, “skipping class” remains a relatively general term to the St. Mark’s students we interviewed– simply not attending a majority or all of a class, intentional or not. There are endless reasons and excuses for skipping class, but here are just a familiar few we found.
Most students at St Mark’s do not completely skip class—for some, skipping class results from external circumstances. For one an anonymous student, skipping class was missing 30 minutes of one of their classes and being 15 minutes late to Saturday Class (the class left their usual meeting location without them). This student did not deliberately forget their class to wander in their dorm or outside campus, but was still considered to have “skipped class.” Several more interviews revealed that many students skip class due to waking up too late, a consequence of sleeping far later than they should due to staying up late with homework and other activities. Other common causes were sicknesses (most notably COVID) and travel.
While many skip classes with ulterior motives, a small population of students act with the intention of missing various commitments, including but not exclusive to classes. Some upperclassmen question the importance of attending all-school events such as Chapel, Gray Colloquium, or School Meetings. A select few upperclassmen consider these commitments necessary to participate in when the content affects them personally—such as supporting a friend’s Chapel Talk or giving a presentation in the Center. This begs the question: do these commitments serve a purpose beyond a simple check mark for attendance? If students would rather sacrifice two hours of their Saturday evening or Sunday morning at detention than show up to these events held at such high standards of importance, should they be required? Can and should these events be tailored to engage every attendee at all-school commitments better?
As these questions circulate, peer pressure seems to follow suit. When one member of a friend group loses interest in attending such events, their behavior often bleeds into the action of their peers. Peer pressure is particularly prevalent in dorm life—when roommates who spend much time together often decide to skip commitments as a pair.
Whether school commitments are skipped with intentionally or not, sleep deprivation, sickness, low interest, and peer pressure play into class attendance… or lack thereof.